


Wisdom in a Cage

by Gemi



Series: Walking in Daylight: Oneshots [4]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 12:12:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19887571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemi/pseuds/Gemi
Summary: Novan named it Yoshi.He hoped Yoshi would know kindness.





	Wisdom in a Cage

**Author's Note:**

> Another oneshot set before "Walking in Daylight" by Hummerhouse, giving further insight into Donovan's and Yoshi's struggles.  
> Niccolo and Masolino Stockman belongs to the amazing [ Hummerhouse ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hummerhouse/pseuds/hummerhouse) , who kindly let me play a bit with them even if they don't make an appearance in this oneshot! They're from one of my favorite TMNT fics of all times. Please go and read her stuff, but read [ Walking in Daylight ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15376734/chapters/35683062) first before you read this one!  
> Donovan and Yoshino Green belongs to me.

“Are you excited?”  
  
Donovan blinked; he stopped swinging his legs from where he sat on the desk, and turned towards the voice.  
  
Black, tired eyes met his.   
  
“About what?” Novan replied. He clasped his hands to hide his nerves. He reminded himself that Bishop was gone for the day. _Important Meetings_ , he had claimed. The human wouldn’t be back for _ages_.  
  
Still, Novan kept his voice low, human or not. Just in case.   
  
The rat chuckled and nodded towards the egg Novan had been staring at. It was inside an incubator, but the doors to it was made of glass which offered a full view of the red light washing over the spheric object.  
  
“About your new sibling?” the rat asked.  
  
“... sibling?”  
  
“Yes,” it said, “It is a turtle. Is that not why you keep breaking out of your cage to stare at it?”  
  
Donovan felt his cheeks heat, but he didn’t move from his perch. It was true, that he kept picking at the lock whenever Bishop was gone or sleeping. It was true that Novan always beelined for the incubator to peer inside. But…  
  
“Having a sibling is dumb,” he told the rat.   
  
The rat had been mutated before Novan; most of the specimen in the lab had. Only the egg was younger than him. However, the rat was no doubt the _oldest_ of them all. There was gray fur around his snout, and his eyes had begun to lose their sheen. Novan had heard Bishop say it was the beginning of glaucoma. That the rat was going blind.  
  
The human wanted to see how long it would take before the rat couldn’t see at all. Novan privately thought the rat looked old enough that it would die before it got so far. It wouldn’t be the first time an experiment failed because of death. Although, usually it was because of Bishop’s impatience rather than nature.   
  
Now, the rat raised a fuzzy brow, his whiskers twitching as he smiled. Around them, the other specimens shifted in their sleep, paying the child and the elderly no attention. Sleep was a precious thing, down here. Perhaps they were both idiots for not taking the opportunity to get some.   
  
“May one inquire as to why?”  
  
“Because…” Donovan looked back at the incubator. Stared at the egg inside, still remembering how Bishop had injected it with the green stuff that had made Novan what he was. What all of them were. “Because only humans have siblings,” he finally decided. “I heard on the radio. We’re experiments, so we can’t have siblings.”  
  
Donovan looked back at the rat; but instead of seeing understanding or acknowledgement for Novan’s insight, all he saw was sadness.  
  
“That is not true, little one,” the rat kindly said, voice raspy. “We are more than experiments.”   
  
The albino faltered.   
  
“How do you know that?” he wondered.   
  
“You came alive in here, did you not? I saw how the man put a drop of the strange liquid on you every day, noting down how long it took before you had human-like intelligence. You know nothing but this life. But,” the rat sighed, leaning back against his cage, “I do. My mutation began outside of these walls, and finished here. I remember the sunlight, and the man who owned me before. I remember how kindly he treated me. I miss him, this man named Yoshi. I do not believe I fully appreciated his kindness until it was too late.” The rat paused.  
  
Sighing, the rat looked towards the egg; Donovan followed his gaze and bit at his bottom lip.  
  
“Take care of whoever is inside that egg, thirty-four,” the rat said. “They deserve to know what sunlight feels like. As do you. There is so much more outside these walls, and I hope you one day see it.”  
  
Novan swallowed.  
  
“... I named myself Donovan,” he whispered, looking back at the rat.  
  
The rat smiled.  
  
“A good name,” the old creature replied, “Far better than a number.”  
  
Novan smiled shyly, pleased with himself, before he focused back on the egg.  
  
He wondered what the turtle inside would pick for itself. Would it keep the number name that Bishop gave them? Or would it want its own name?  
  
Would it let Novan name it?  
  
He didn’t know. But Donovan stayed on the desk, swinging his legs and staring at the incubator, until his eyelids grew heavy and it became harder to sit up straight. Then, and only then, did Novan go back into his cage. 

  
  
Months later, after the rat was dead and gone from age, a tiny, green turtle hatched.   
  
Novan named it Yoshi.  
  
He hoped Yoshi would know kindness. 


End file.
